Truth tellers: the latest endangered species

The news has been a mixed bag lately.

The Bush administration has long said that US troops will only remain in Iraq so long as they are needed.

Over the weekend, Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki said US troops were no longer needed.

Despite this, President Bush is opposing Congressional efforts that would withdraw all US troops by April of next year.

So the question is does Bush not believe the prime minister's words or his own?

The Washington Post reported that last November, CIA director Michael Hayden told the Iraq Study Group that instability in Iraq was 'irreversible.' Former defense secretary William J. Perry, one of the five Democrats on the Iraq Study Group, confirmed that Hayden told them the Iraqi government seemed beyond repair. Another senior intelligence official added that the assessment was fundamentally the same today.

Later that November day, Bush spoke of the situation of Iraq in glowing, 'Churchillian' terms.

So does Bush believe his CIA director's words or his own?

And if Iraq is as utopian as he describes it, why is the further presence of US troops needed?

At home, Scooter Libby might not be the only high-ranking administration official who'll need impunity for tell under oath. Reuters recounted a Washington Post story that reported that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had assured Congress in 2005 that the FBI had not abused powers granted under an anti-terrorism law despite having received reports of potential violations.

No wonder Bush doesn't want Harriet Miers or Sara Taylor to testify under oath to Congress. With this administration's record on truth telling, I'd be afraid to. It makes you wonder why Evangelical Christians are so eagerly behind these guys who seem incapable of putting their hand on the Holy Bible and swearing 'to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help [them] God'... and actually doing it.

Justice Department officials did not know if Gonzales had actually read the report in question. So essentially it seems that the nation's top law enforcement official is guilty of either lying under oath or gross negligence? You know things are bad when astronomical incompetence is considered the lesser or two sins.

At least there's a shred of good news. The Senate is debating whether to reinstate the most basic tenet of western civilization, despite fierce White House opposition.